Spring plowing

wellmax99 · Mar 9, 2015

Breaking up the garden spot:

what on earth reason would they have for plowing this deep?????????

looks to me they would be turning up dirt that had not seen daylight in thousands of years and would have no plant growth nutrients.

must be some good reason as they have heavily invested in the equipment. The large plow is pulled by either 2 or 3 bulldozers hooked together.

Bet someone out there knows????

paul · Mar 9, 2015

I've heard out west some few places, the clay particles wash through the big sand particles and the soil wears out.

Deep plowing like that brings the clay back up to the top, and makes good soil for the special crops they grow.

Or, they got tired of the bad Canadian thistle patches and figured that a little tillage would get them?

Paul

Tim(nj) · Mar 9, 2015

Sometimes heavily irrigated ground gets too much salt in the top foot because of the minerals in the water they use. Deep plowing like that brings up non-salted soil and makes the ground productive again. How many times this can be done and still be effective I don't know.

oleclint · Mar 9, 2015

I remember seeing that picture in some Cat. litature when I was very young. I think it was taken in the 1940 s. IIRC, it was taken in Cal. Tim is "rite on" about getting 'fresh' dirt up to the surface. It mite of had something to do with growing crops , like carrots. Thanks for posting it. clint

Hay maker2 · Mar 9, 2015

I think John Deere made a plow like this, maybe called it a "grub plow"???? I think it was to turn the ground over after a flood happned. They were tring to get the soil back to the top after the silt was left from the flood?????

Dave H (MI) · Mar 9, 2015

Post about same on Talk a few weeks back. I don't recall what it was called, but the use was for flooded area like the Mississippi. Lots of sediment and sand deposited on the farm land so they plowed it under with those things. Someone said they were used in FL not long ago after one of the bigger hurricanes also.

BillOHIO · Mar 9, 2015

First thing that comes to mind when seeing this is when I would plow thru old shallow laid clay tile lines on little farm I grew up on with a regular plow. Would not be any drainage tile that would survive this plow. In fact you could just plow in new ones with this rig. Just add a GPS !

Dick2 · Mar 9, 2015

You are right; salts will perculate upward and hurt crop production with large amounts if water in the soil. Irrigators generally have a precise irrigation schedule, so they don't like to have any heavy rains that mess up their schedule and amount of water they can use.

Deep plowing is not done in this immediate area, but is done in many areas where they irrigate.

C. Amick · Mar 9, 2015

The real question is what is he doing with that shovel?

coonie minnie · Mar 9, 2015

In some places of the country, it could be to incorperate a clay or sand layer.

For the rest of us, the Forrest Gump quote comes to mind- "Stupid is as stupid does, ma'am!"

JMS/.MN · Mar 9, 2015

In a mid-late 50s issue of The Farmer magazine, published in St. Paul, MN, there was a story with pics of doing that...I believe in Michigan. Had 4 crawlers in front. Dad would have wanted to do that to a forty we had. Ditch spoil on two sides grew much better crops when we plowed that dirt down and mixed it together. This was sandy ground with layers of clay and marl, each a few inches thick, about 2 feet below the surface.

Trevor4440 · Mar 10, 2015

Would be fun to harvest in a wet fall.

Bret4207 · Mar 10, 2015

I have films from the 40's in Holland showing plowing like that. It was all heavy, heavy clay. I think mixing the subsoil was the goal.

Rex Simpkins · Mar 16, 2015

What's the shovel for????????????????

Spring plowing

wellmax99

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paul

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Tim(nj)

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oleclint

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Hay maker2

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Dave H (MI)

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BillOHIO

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Dick2

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C. Amick

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coonie minnie

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JMS/.MN

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Trevor4440

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Bret4207

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Rex Simpkins

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